ATF helps city swat down crime

Tuesday

Apr 23, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Some of the ATF's most experienced undercover operatives were deployed in Stockton the past four months, helping police conduct one of the biggest series of raids, authorities will announce today.

Jason Anderson

STOCKTON - Some of the ATF's most experienced undercover operatives were deployed in Stockton the past four months, helping police conduct one of the biggest series of raids, authorities will announce today.

One of the first indications that a major operation was under way in Stockton emerged Feb. 21, when dozens of federal agents and local law enforcement officers amassed on the south banks of the Deep Water Channel to stage for a raid. Most of them drove unmarked cars, pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans. Two drove U-Haul trucks.

One man phoned The Record to say it looked "like an army" was assembling in a parking lot under the Interstate 5 overpass near the Morelli Park boat launch, but it wasn't an army. It was Operation Gideon IV, a joint effort between the Stockton Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to target some of the city's most violent criminals. Police Chief Eric Jones said it might have been the biggest operation of its kind ever carried out in Stockton, a city that has been besieged by bloody violence in recent years.

"I've never seen anything on this scale with the ATF or another federal agency," said Jones, a 21-year veteran of the department. "We've had some huge enforcement sweeps here in Stockton, but they were one or two days. In this case, we had a combination of a long-term operation involving this many law enforcement resources. It's the largest I've ever seen in Stockton."

The ATF will hold a news conference at 1:30 p.m. today at the Stockton Police Department announcing the results of the operation, which followed similar crackdowns conducted since 2009 in Phoenix, San Diego and Oakland. Authorities carried out more than 20 raids in Stockton and other parts of San Joaquin County, resulting in dozens of arrests, gun confiscations and drug seizures, Jones said. The ATF is expected to release exact figures today.

Some of the Operation Gideon raids were carried out with help from the county Sheriff's Office, the California Highway Patrol and other local law enforcement agencies such as the Manteca and Ripon police departments. The operation was so confidential that few members of participating law enforcement agencies knew it was taking place. In most cases, even the officers and SWAT team members who participated in raids didn't know they were part of a larger ATF operation, Jones said.

"We had to keep it secret," Jones said. "That was critical to the success of the operation. A few astute people started to piece it together, but for the most part it was amazing that this was able to remain confidential for such a long period of time."

ATF Special Agent in Charge Joe Riehl withheld specific details of the operation as authorities concluded their mission the past few days, but he described a variety of tactics used by his agents, including intelligence gathering, data analysis, surveillance and covert operations.

"We use all different kinds of strategies," Riehl said. "We look at people who were arrested with guns and see what we can establish about them. We have undercover operations that are conducted with people involved in narcotics trafficking and firearms trafficking. We look for people who are truly willing to commit violent acts, robberies and things of that nature using firearms."

Some of those arrested were linked to residential robberies, drug sales, gun sales, shootings and possibly homicides, and most are facing federal charges, authorities said. Jones said this operation contributed greatly to Stockton's steep decline in violence since January. In the first three months of 2013, violent crime was down 15.7 percent and homicides dropped by 62.5 percent compared to the same period in 2012, when the city had it's all-time high of 71 homicides.

"These subjects were responsible for high amounts of violent crime," Jones said. "We have no doubt that, based on the arrests and confiscations that have occurred, we have prevented some significant violent crimes in Stockton over the past few months."

Jones said he contacted the Office of the Attorney General last year to request federal assistance about the same time the ATF identified Stockton as a high-crime community in need of help. Jones met with Riehl to find out how the ATF could help, and soon they were discussing details for the fourth in a series of Operation Gideon missions.

Riehl said the operation's name came from the biblical story of Gideon, who led 300 Israelites against many thousands of Midianites, an ancient civilization that tormented and terrorized Israelis for years. The ATF launched Operation Gideon in 2009 in Phoenix, where agents targeted home invasion robberies. Authorities made 70 arrests there while seizing more than $39,000 in cash, several firearms, bulletproof vests, plastic restraints, duct tape, gloves and ski masks. In Oakland, where agents sought out the "worst of the worst offenders," authorities made 90 arrests while seizing 92 guns and nearly 10 kilograms of methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin and crack cocaine.

Riehl said the ATF came to Stockton because of the city's high violent crime rates. He also noted that Stockton has a number of major thoroughfares with ties to drug trafficking, funneling more guns and violence into the city, Riehl said.

"Just look at some of the statistics," Riehl said. "Homicides over the past few years have reached record highs. You look at shooting activity, gun arrests, gang reputations, the types of people you have and their criminal records. It's clear that Stockton is a city that has been plagued by violence, and it's clear that people are frustrated with that."

Jones said Operation Gideon is the latest in a series of initiatives undertaken by the department to stem the rise of violent crime in Stockton.

"This demonstrates the department's determination to assertively address the worst and most violent offenders in our community," Jones said. "It's another example of our ongoing efforts to take back the streets and give them back to the citizens of Stockton."